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Let me tell you why cheating is viewed as such a destructive thing by most women. I know you don’t completely understand what ‘the big deal’ is. After all, you told me yourself: she didn’t mean anything to you. You were just drunk and it just…happened.

And for you it’s probably not a big deal. You fucked up, you know it, but it doesn’t mean that you don’t love me. You do, and you’re sorry, and it won’t happen again, so why can’t I just forgive and forget?

Well, I tried. I did. I tried to forget about it as the months went on and nothing remotely like that happened again. I tried not to feel nervous and self-conscious every time you were out of town and would go out for drinks with coworkers, or every time we were around beautiful, charming girls that made you laugh. I tried to forget the mental image of you and her, and for the most part I did. Sometimes it would flash across my mind, and I would feel that sting again, but we went on together because I knew you did love me.

But here’s why our relationship was never the same. It wasn’t the physical act. That was bad enough, but time marches on quickly. Our relationship was never the same because with that one slip up, you told me that all the times I very privately wondered if I was pretty enough, or sexy enough, or interesting enough for you…that I was right to doubt. You told me that never touching your phone, that never asking too many questions, that loving you and supporting you didn’t make up for not being there when you were drunk and horny. You told me that I was right to worry about if I was satisfying you sexually, even if you constantly reassured me that I satisfied you emotionally.

You would tell me this is stupid, of course. You probably would think that it’s the stupidest thing you ever heard. But I had insecurities which I tried not to give into, and you went ahead and reaffirmed every doubt I ever had about myself in our relationship. And that’s the part that really hurt. I forgave you, but I never, ever felt like I was enough for you again.

So that’s it, “Guy.” That’s what happened after you cheated. Maybe you’ll never understand it, and I certainly know you didn’t mean to. But my confidence in myself as an awesome, loving girlfriend to you was never there again. So in the end, it was both of us that damaged the relationship.